An important element in the production and distribution of television programming is revenue received from manufacturers and service providers who pay to advertise and sell their products. The survival of a television program is heavily dependent on the advertising revenue that can be realized from the television program. Advertisers, in turn, rely on the ability of the television program to draw users who then become potential purchasers of the advertised products. An effective commercial is one that captures the viewer's attention in a lasting manner and that ultimately results in the purchase of goods and/or services.
One way for merchants to maximize the resultant purchases of goods and/or services is to offer special discounts through commercials and/or coupons. Coupons are often available at the merchants' place of business or arrive in the mail or newspaper. For many consumers, the purchase of goods and/or services from a particular merchant is contingent upon the discount a consumer may receive from a coupon. The logistics of finding and redeeming coupons, however, can sometimes be inefficient. Consumers may have trouble finding a coupon for a particular good or service. When consumers do come upon a coupon they desire, they may save the coupon in a drawer or purse, only to lose the coupon later. At other times, the coupons are forgotten and expire before they can be used.
In order to remedy the problem of losing and/or forgetting about coupons, some consumers may sort and organize their coupons by expiration date and/or category. Unfortunately, this can be time-consuming and may defeat the money-saving purpose of using coupons. Another problem is that many coupons that arrive in the mail do not provide for online redemption, so that a consumer who makes a purchase through the Internet cannot get the same discount that the consumer would receive at the merchant's physical location.
The above-described problems create inefficiencies for consumers, who desire to redeem their coupons, and for merchants, who spend time and money marketing coupons to attract consumers. Accordingly, improvements are needed in the way coupons are made available to consumers and in the way they are redeemed with the merchant.